Nu’man b. Bashir reported Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) as saying:
“The similitude of believers in regard to mutual love, affection, fellow-feeling is that of one body; when any limb of it aches, the whole body aches, because of sleeplessness and fever.” [1]
It has been 70 years since the peaceful valley of Kashmir has become a battlefield for the fight for independence. Constantly in a state of turmoil and bloodshed till today, now the situation has deteriorated further. The India’s Hindu nationalist government has revoked the special status of Indian-administered Kashmir in its constitution that assured special rights to the Muslim-majority state, including the right to its own constitution and sovereignty to make laws on all matters, except defense, communications and foreign affairs. Furthermore, India has sent thousands of additional troops to the disputed region. Mobile phones, the internet, and landlines are all down in the Kashmir valley, political leaders have been arrested and a crippling curfew has been imposed. In short, Indian Occupied Kashmir is now completely cut off from the outside world. By revoking the article, the Indian government will now have far more control over J&K, and outsiders will be allowed to buy property there. That has sparked fears of “ethnic cleansing”, that Hindus will drive out the Muslims from their own land.
But the whole world is watching silently as Kashmir bleeds, now more than ever. The UN is “deeply concerned” over Kashmir developments. USA is unhappy that India did not “consult” them before revoking Occupied Kashmir’s status. But the question is, why are the Muslim countries silent? Why aren’t they lending a hand forward to help Kashmir? Turkey says it is “closely watching” the situation. Saudi Arabia expressed “concern” on the ongoing developments in the region. Malaysia says it’s “closely evaluating” the situation in Kashmir. UAE, in a shocking statement said that it viewed this latest decision related to the state of Jammu and Kashmir as an “internal matter”!!!
The same thing happens when Muslims are persecuted in other parts of the world. They bleed and all the ummah watches on. We cry but we do nothing. In China, Muslims are put into concentration camps. In Myanmar, they are massacred in huge numbers. In Palestine, they are subject of systematic ethnic cleansing on their own land. In western countries, they are subject to rising xenophobia and intimidation. Around the world, they are forced to abandon their religion by not being able to fast, keep a beard, announce Adhan, wear hijab etc. and the list goes on…
But Muslims killing Muslims is not any less evident on the global scene. Saudi Arabia and its sidekick, the United Arab Emirates, have led a coalition of Muslim states to slaughter tens of thousands of Yemenis and drive millions more to starvation. In Syria, it is Bashar al-Assad (and his Russian and Iranian backers) who are responsible for the mass killing of hundreds of thousands of Syrians and driving the rest to refugee camps in and out of their devastated homeland. In Egypt and Iran too, the ruling regimes are murdering their own citizens in prisons or in the streets.
So what are the Muslim countries doing? Why are they silent on such atrocities committed by non-Muslims nations and sometimes our own Muslim nations and people??! Instead of becoming one ummah, one nation, one country, they are divided into multiple nations and only committed to protecting their own people and territories which are marked by invisible lines on the land that they themselves have created. They have enough power to intervene in war-torn Muslim regions, but they don’t have the will, simply to secure their own political interests.
Narrated Thawban:
The Prophet (ﷺ) said: “The people will soon summon one another to attack you as people when eating invite others to share their dish. Someone asked: Will that be because of our small numbers at that time? He replied: No, you will be numerous at that time: but you will be scum and rubbish like that carried down by a torrent, and Allah will take fear of you from the breasts of your enemy and last enervation into your hearts. Someone asked: What is wahn (enervation)? Messenger of Allah (ﷺ): He replied: Love of the world and dislike of death.” [2]
That is why Islam does not accept these invisible lines of division. In the eyes of Allah, there are only 2 nations: the Muslims and the non-Muslims.
The Islamic World consists of all people who are in Islam. It is not an exact location, but rather a community. The Muslims are supposed to be one nation with one ruler, which is to be known as Khalifah (caliph/ viceroy). And the whole Muslim world must submit to this leader. The state of Madinah is the ideal example of the Muslim caliphate. It put a stop to the ethnic fights and the civil wars going on there before Islam and turned it into a peaceful prosperous land. Muslim unity is the only solution to the problems Muslims are facing today.
Imam Ahmed (RA) said: “The Fitna (mischief and tribulations) occurs when there is no Imam (leader) established over the affairs of the people”.
Imam Al-Juzayri, an expert on the Fiqh of the four great schools of thought said regarding the four Imams, “The Imams (scholars of the four schools of thought – Shafi’i, Hanafi, Maliki, Hanbali) agree that the Imamah (Leadership) is an obligation, and that the Muslims must appoint an Imam who would implement the deen’s rites, and give the oppressed justice against the oppressors.” [3]
The Prophet (saw) prophesized the advent of Khilafah 1400 years back.
It is reported that the Prophet ﷺ said: ‘Prophethood will last among you for as long as Allah wills, then Allah will take it away. Then it will be (followed by) a Khilafah Rashida (caliphate rightly guided) according to the ways of the Prophethood. It will remain for as long as Allah wills, then Allah will take it away. Afterwards there will be a hereditary leadership which will remain for as long as Allah wills, then He will lift it if He wishes. Afterwards, there will be biting oppression, and it will last for as long as Allah wishes, then He will lift it if He wishes. Then there will be a Khilafah Rashida according to the ways of the Prophethood.’ Then he kept silent.” [4]
The first 3 stages of our history passed as prophesized:
1 – Prophethood (ended on Muhammad, ﷺ),
2 – Rightly guided Caliphs [Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali],
3 – Hereditary Leadership [Umayyads, Abbasids, Ottomans etc.],
4 – We are living in the present biting oppression stage,
5 – And now, we await the last one.
“When the accursed Golda Meir (the fourth Prime Minister of Israel) was asked what the hardest days of her life were, she answered, ‘The day the Al-Aqsa Mosque was burned.’ [5] And when asked for the happiest day of her life, she answered, ‘The day the Al-Aqsa Mosque was burned.’ They asked her, ‘How can this be?’ She said, ‘The day the Al-Aqsa Mosque was burnt I thought that [we faced the] last day of the State of Israel (from fear of Muslim countries sending their armies to invade) but when I saw the Muslim responses, I understood that Israel is safe in the region of the Arab world.” [6]
References:
[3] (“Fiqh ul-Mathahib ul- Arba’a” [the Fiqh of the four schools of thought], volume 5, page 416.)
[4] Collected by Aḥmad (18406); deemed ḥasan by al-Arna’ūṭ, and “at least ḥasan” by al-Albāni in as-Silsila aṣ-Ṣaḥīḥa (5).